4 April 2013Executive Appointments

SIIA moves to strengthen captive industry lobbying


The Self-Insurance Institute of America (SIIA) announced a reorganised government relations team based in Washington, D.C. The team was adjusted to increase the organisation’s political influence, particularly with key Democrats and the media.

The new team, which according to SIIA was formulated after staff departures provided the opportunity to seek out new talent, includes Chris Condeluci, who was directly involved in writing the Affordable Care Act, as the association’s Washington council and Congressman Bart Stupak. Kevin McKenney has  joined the team as government relations coordinator and David Kirby, who provides media relations support, will be continuing on the team.

Mike Ferguson, who will continue to direct SIIA’s overall government relations operations, commented: “this is really an impressive group of professionals. While our government relations shop has been pretty effective up until now, I am confident that this new, upgraded team will enable SIIA to further expand its political influence, and in turn better serve the interests of our members.”

Ferguson told Captive International: “The most fundamental goal is to make sure members of Congress and key healthcare and insurance regulators understand the important role that self-insurance and captives play in the private health care and insurance marketplace as they consider various policy proposals.”

The main challenge the team will face, according to Ferguson, is the fight to push back efforts to make it more difficult for self-insured employers to obtain medical stop-loss insurance. Ferguson said: “not only is this important for the self-insurance marketplace in general, but it is a more specific threat to stop-loss captive programs, which are dependent on the availability of stop-loss insurance for smaller and mid-sized employers.”